Episode 15: A New Departure
A New Departure is the fifteenth episode of Season 1 of the Monster Rancher anime series. It aired in Japan on July 24, 1999. Synopsis The Searchers arrive at the ocean, and encounter Horn, the self-proclaimed righteous pirate. They try to get him to give them a ride across the ocean, and fight Gali's Zuum troops at the same time. Full Recap Captain Weed sends out three of the Weeds to relay a message about Genki and his team. He then reports to Moo, who demands to know why they're not underway. Captain Weed tells him a thundercloud formation is closing in. Moo refuses to be stopped by a thundercloud, and orders a course straight north (towards his old body). As Holly is making a pot of soup over a fire, our heroes are sitting around the soup. They are talking about how Moo used the Magic Stone to find his old body, and conclude that Holly should use the stone in the same way to find the Phoenix. Holly says she doesn't know if her power is strong enough, but Golem reminds her to believe in her power. Genki says Holly will never know (if she's strong enough) unless she tries. Holly says she'll try. She then tastes the soup and says it's ready. The scene then quickly turns into a free-for-all as everyone, except Holly and Golem, tries to eat a much soup as they can, as fast as they can. At Gali's castle, the Weed is reporting to Gali about the "rebels". They talk a bit about how the "rebels" got Pixie to join them. Gali concludes the meeting by saying he'll send the Zuums after them. Holly is ready to use the Magic Stone to find the Phoenix. At first she fails, but then touches her father's dagger (which is hanging at her side) and tries to use its power to help her. On her second try, she succeeds, and an arrow forms on the stone. Holly says she doesn't know for sure it worked, but again Genki tells her they won't know unless they try. Genki then asks about her dagger. Suezo says it's a dangerous trinket for a young lady. Holly tells them she found it at the floating castle, and that it reminded her of her father. As Genki and the others are marching on Hare hears waves. Genki cheers that they're going to the ocean. Mocchi's confused because he never heard about the ocean before. Genki tells him it's very large and big. Mocchi asks if it's like a mountain. Genki than grabs Mocchi and runs to a nearby cliff that overhangs the ocean. Everyone except Golem soon joins them on the cliff edge admiring the ocean. Golem stayed back, looking scared but claiming nothing was wrong. Holly and Genki decide to once again use the stone. They're surprised to see it points straight across the ocean. They quickly figure they'll need a boat to get across, and want Suezo to find a nearby harbor. Suezo's at first reluctant, but Golem promises that he'll catch Suezo. Suezo finds a town with a harbor and shouts out. Everyone (including Golem) turns to look, and Suezo falls right past Golem, burying himself a couple feet into the ground. Golem starts telling Suezo he's so sorry. When our heroes reach the town, they find it's a ghost town. They soon find it's not deserted though, when they are quickly surrounded by Zuum troops. They're ready to fight when a boat sailing into the harbor fires on the Zumms. The boat is captained by Horn, the righteous pirate. The Zumms quickly retreat to avoid his cannons. Horn then shoots at our heroes, but Golem catches it and throws it back. Horn tells his Rockies to load the "special." The Rockies load a red cannonball and fire. Golem tries to catch this cannonball, but a net comes out of it and traps everyone. Horn and the Rockies rush on shore. They go right past the net and knock down the door of a building. When Horn sees the building is empty, he says he'll keelhaul whoever told him it had the best chocolate milkshakes on the seven seas. By this time Genki and the others have freed themselves and demand to know what's happening. The Rockies prepare to fight, but then one of them says that Genki and the others don't look like baddies. Horn immediately demands to know who they are. Genki wants to know who they are. Horn starts to yell at Genki for not listening to him before, but then sees Holly, and starts sing "I'm Horn the righteous pirate..." until Suezo tells him to get a grip. Horn and Suezo nearly get into a fight until Holly makes them stop. Inside the abandoned restaurant, Genki and Hare explain they need a boat to cross the ocean to find the Phoenix and defeat Moo. Hare adds that since both Horn and he are "businessmen", they know everything has a price. Horn surprises everyone by saying he doesn't want money, and would prefer a game of cards. He explains that if he loses, he'll take them across, but if he wins, Holly sails away with him. Tiger says that's an insult, and wants to fight instead. Despite this, Holly says they should go for it. Genki's surprised she would risk everything on a game of cards, but Holly says they don't have much choice. Next, they have to decide what game to play. Suezo wants to play stud poker, but Horn again surprises everyone by wanting to play Old Maid. Hare says he'll shuffle the cards. While Hare is shuffling, Horn warns Suezo not to cheat, and shows him what he does to cheaters. Horn jumps up and attacks one of the wooden beams in the building, but gets his horn stuck, and needs help down. After Horn gets back down, Hare deals out the cards, and both players (Horn and Suezo) start throwing out their pairs. When play starts, Horn draws the old maid, which looks like a donkey, out of Suezo's hand. Suezo immediately draws the old maid back though. After this happens again, Horn notices he can see the card's reflections in Suezo's eye. Using this to avoid the old maid, Horn is soon down to one card (an ace), and Suezo down to two (an ace and the donkey old maid). Suezo now notices he can see the ace reflected in Horn's eye, and figures out what he's been doing. He puts the cards down on the table, mixes them up, and then has Horn pick one. Horn picks the old maid, but then does the same thing to Suezo. Suezo grabs for a card, but it gets picked up by Horn first, who flips it with his tongue, and shows it to be blank. This surprises everyone, but Hare quickly sees through the trick. Hare pulls Horn's tongue out, showing everyone where he licked off the ink. Suezo accuses Horn of being a cheater, and they're about to start fighting when the Zuum troops burst in to the restaurant. Golem knocks down a wall to let everyone escape. While everyone runs toward to harbor, Holly again asks Horn to take them across the ocean. Horn thinks it over and agrees Suezo won. The rockies get the boat ready, pulling up the anchor and getting ready the sails. Everyone but Golem is soon on the ship. Golem is still on land fending off the Zuums. A Genki yell for him to get on board, but Golem insists they go on without him. As the boat starts pulling out of the harbor, Suezo yells to Golem, wanting to know why he's doing this just because he's scared of water. Genki tells Golem that when he's scared he should laugh it off. Golem knocks back the attacking Zuums, and starts running down the pier. He jumps off the end of the pier, and land on the back end of the ship. He's quickly pulled on board by the rest of the group. With everyone now on board, Genki and Horn are ready to set sail. Featured Characters *The Searchers *Captain Horn *Rockies *Zuum Troops *Gali (Anime) *Weed Troops Featured Monsters *Suezo *Mocchi *Golem *Tiger *Hare *Hornie *Rocky *Gali *Zuum *Weed Trivia Episode Category:Episodes Category:Season 1